Mengo vs Mbenenge: Landmark sexual harassment case in South Africa's judiciary resumes

IOL News

05-05-2025

Digital forensic investigator and data analyst, Francois Möller, gave evidence at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal Hearing on sexual harassments complaints against Judge President Selby Mbenenge.
Image: Supplied / Judicial Conduct Tribunal
Proceedings in the Judicial Conduct Tribunal on the complaint lodged by Andiswa Mengo against Judge President Selby Mbenenge resumed on Monday.
JP Mbenenge presides at the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court and was accused by Mengo - a judge's clerk - of sexual harassment, in which she alleges several disturbing communications from Mbenenge.
The first witness called on Monday, Francois Möller, gave evidence at the Tribunal hearing, and it related to forensic data retrieved from two cellphone devices - a Samsung S20 and a Samsung A12 - each belonging to JP Mbenenge and Mengo, respectively.
Möller is a digital forensic investigator and data analyst. His qualifications were not disputed by Mengo's counsel and panellists.
Möller confirmed that he did a logical extraction of information from both devices, which included calls, contact information, media files, messages, and locations.
He said that in the logical extraction of information from Mbenenge's device, they were able to retrieve 95 deleted messages, but he confirmed that these messages did not relate to this matter.
On Mengo's device, Möller confirmed that they retrieved 275 deleted entries.
According to Möller, after a specific data download was conducted on both devices, 855 chat messages were retrieved and specifying that these messages were exchanged between Mbenenge and Mengo.
Andiswa Mengo during the tribunal against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge.
Image: Office of the Chief Justice / N Mabusela
Möller confirmed that his forensic report resulted in a 433-page report which was extracted from the specific download.
Evidence leader in the tribunal, Advocate Salome Scheepers, pointed Möller to several screenshots of pictures and conversations sent between the devices of Mengo and Mbenenge.
Further, in relation to two WhatsApp stickers sent to Mengo, which Mengo claimed were sent to her by Mbenenge, Möller said due to the stickers being deleted by Mbenenge before Mengo could make a screenshot of the conversation, it could not be ascertained from which sender the stickers were received, although the stickers were saved in the WhatsApp sticker gallery.
Counsel for Mbenenge, Griffits Madonsela SC, probed Möller about the private part picture that Mengo said she had received from the Judge President.
Möller confirmed that the graphic picture had a timestamp of 09.05; however, 'there were not enough features' on the picture to conclude whether the picture was a screenshot or a WhatsApp message she received. This was because a search for messages between the devices showed no results.
According to Möller, the information could not be retrieved through a forensic extraction from Mengo's device and could not be correlated with Mbenenge's device, as he could only perform a logical extraction from Mbenenge's device.
The software used for extraction did not support a forensic extraction on Mbenenge's device, which limited their correlation efforts for WhatsApp conversations between the two devices. Mengo's counsel had no questions for Möller on Monday.
Judge President Selby Mbenenge presides at the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court and was accused by Andiswa Mengo of sexual harassment.
Image: Supplied / Judicial Conduct Tribunal
Judges Matter said systems designed to address misconduct in the judiciary are not working effectively and said sexual harassment complaints need to be dealt with swiftly and sensitively, with a victim-centred approach.
'More often than not, perpetrators of sexual harassment are persons in positions of power. The complaint against Judge President Mbenenge is a classic example of this fact. The testimony given by Mengo was to the effect that she feared that if she spoke out against Judge President Mbenenge, she would lose her job.
'The power imbalances pose many difficulties for those faced with sexual harassment in the workplace... This will mark the first time in South Africa's history that not only a judge but also a Judge President will testify regarding allegations of sexual harassment made against him. It will be interesting to hear the Judge President's version of events, considering the extensive detail Mengo's testimony provided.
"The allegations of sexual harassment against Mbenenge surfaced in January 2023. It is now almost mid-2025, and the complaint brought by Mengo is yet to be finalised. It is taking the judiciary almost three years to deal with a sexual harassment complaint. The fact that it is the first time a Judicial Conduct Tribunal is convened in relation to a sexual harassment complaint does not warrant such a lengthy delay in bringing the complaint to finality,' Judges Matter wrote.
Representing Mengo, Women's Legal Centre, said the Tribunal 'is exposing the scale of sexual harassment in our legal system, the silence it's built on, and the power that protects perpetrators'.
The Tribunal is expected to run until May 16.
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